Enhancing data throughput using multiple receivers

ABSTRACT

An apparatus includes a first low noise amplifier (LNA) in a first receive path. The apparatus further includes receive circuitry in the first receive path. The receive circuitry is configured to receive an output of the first LNA and to receive an output of a second LNA within a second receive path.

I. CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional application of and claimspriority from commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/203,000, filed Mar. 10, 2014, entitled “Enhancing Data ThroughputUsing Multiple Receivers,” the contents of which are expresslyincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

II. FIELD

The present disclosure is generally related to receivers for electronicdevices.

III. DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Advances in technology have resulted in smaller and more powerfulelectronic devices. For example, there currently exist a variety ofmobile devices, such as wireless telephones, personal digital assistants(PDAs), and paging devices. The mobile devices may be small,lightweight, and easily carried by users. Wireless telephones, such ascellular telephones and Internet Protocol (IP) telephones, cancommunicate voice and data packets over wireless networks. Further, manywireless telephones include other types of devices that are incorporatedtherein. For example, a wireless telephone can also include a digitalstill camera, a digital video camera, a digital recorder, and an audiofile player. Also, wireless telephones can process executableinstructions, including software applications, such as a web browserapplication, that can be used to access the Internet. As such, wirelesstelephones and other wireless devices can include significant computingcapabilities.

A wireless device may receive wireless signals using a receiver. Thewireless device may use the receiver to perform certain operations tomaintain network connectivity. For example, the wireless device may usethe receiver to measure signal strength of received signals. Maintainingnetwork connectivity may reduce performance of the wireless device byconsuming processing and other resources.

IV. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a wireless device communicating with a wireless system;

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the wireless device in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that depicts an exemplary embodiment of asystem that may be included in the wireless device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram that depicts an exemplary embodiment ofanother system that may be included in the wireless device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary embodiment of amethod of operating a device, such as the wireless device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram that depicts an exemplary embodiment ofanother system that may be included in the wireless device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram that depicts an exemplary embodiment ofanother system that may be included in the wireless device of FIG. 1;and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram that depicts an exemplary embodiment ofanother system that may be included in the wireless device of FIG. 1.

V. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below is intended as a description ofexemplary designs of the present disclosure and is not intended torepresent the only designs in which the present disclosure can bepracticed. The term “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as anexample, instance, or illustration.” Any design described herein as“exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other designs. The detailed description includesspecific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understandingof the exemplary designs of the present disclosure. It will be apparentto those skilled in the art that the exemplary designs described hereinmay be practiced without these specific details. In some instances,well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form inorder to avoid obscuring the novelty of the exemplary designs presentedherein.

FIG. 1 shows a wireless device 110 communicating with a wirelesscommunication system 120. Wireless communication system 120 may be aLong Term Evolution (LTE) system, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)system, a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) system, awireless local area network (WLAN) system, or some other wirelesssystem. A CDMA system may implement Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 1X,Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO), Time Division Synchronous CDMA(TD-SCDMA), or some other version of CDMA. For simplicity, FIG. 1 showswireless communication system 120 including two base stations 130 and132 and one system controller 140. In general, a wireless system mayinclude any number of base stations and any set of network entities.

Wireless device 110 may also be referred to as a user equipment (UE), amobile station, a terminal, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, astation, etc. Wireless device 110 may be a cellular phone, a smartphone,a tablet, a wireless modem, a personal digital assistant (PDA), ahandheld device, a laptop computer, a smartbook, a netbook, a cordlessphone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a Bluetooth device, etc.Wireless device 110 may communicate with wireless system 120. Wirelessdevice 110 may also receive signals from broadcast stations (e.g., abroadcast station 134), signals from satellites (e.g., a satellite 150)in one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), etc. Wirelessdevice 110 may support one or more radio technologies for wirelesscommunication such as LTE, WCDMA, CDMA 1X, EVDO, TD-SCDMA, GSM, 802.11,etc.

FIG. 1 illustrates that a wireless device in accordance with the presentdisclosure (e.g., the wireless device 110) may communicate with awireless communication system, such as the wireless communication system120. As described further with reference to FIGS. 2-5, the wirelessdevice 110 may include multiple receivers. The wireless device 110 mayutilize the multiple receivers including an auxiliary receiver toincrease data throughput of a primary receiver.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of an exemplary design of wireless device110 in FIG. 1. In this exemplary design, wireless device 110 includes atransceiver 220 coupled to a primary antenna 210, a transceiver 222coupled to a secondary antenna 212, and a data processor/controller 280.Transceiver 220 includes multiple (K) receivers 230 pa to 230 pk andmultiple (K) transmitters 250 pa to 250 pk to support multiple frequencybands, multiple radio technologies, carrier aggregation, etc.Transceiver 222 includes multiple (L) receivers 230 sa to 230 sl andmultiple (L) transmitters 250 sa to 250 sl to support multiple frequencybands, multiple radio technologies, carrier aggregation, receivediversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission frommultiple transmit antennas to multiple receive antennas, etc.

In the exemplary design shown in FIG. 2, each receiver 230 includes anLNA 240 and receive circuits 242. For data reception, antenna 210receives signals from base stations and/or other transmitter stationsand provides a received RF signal, which is routed through an antennainterface circuit 224 and presented as an input RF signal to a selectedreceiver. Antenna interface circuit 224 may include switches, duplexers,transmit filters, receive filters, matching circuits, etc. Thedescription below assumes that receiver 230 pa is the selected receiver.Within receiver 230 pa, an LNA 240 pa amplifies the input RF signal andprovides an output RF signal. Receive circuits 242 pa downconvert theoutput RF signal from RF to baseband, amplify and filter thedownconverted signal, and provide an analog input signal to dataprocessor 280. Receive circuits 242 pa may include mixers, filters,amplifiers, matching circuits, an oscillator, a local oscillator (LO)generator, a phase locked loop (PLL), etc. Each remaining receiver 230in transceivers 220 and 222 may operate in similar manner as receiver230 pa.

In the exemplary design shown in FIG. 2, each transmitter 250 includestransmit circuits 252 and a power amplifier (PA) 254. For datatransmission, data processor 280 processes (e.g., encodes and modulates)data to be transmitted and provides an analog output signal to aselected transmitter. The description below assumes that transmitter 250pa is the selected transmitter. Within transmitter 250 pa, transmitcircuits 252 pa amplify, filter, and upconvert the analog output signalfrom baseband to RF and provide a modulated RF signal. Transmit circuits252 pa may include amplifiers, filters, mixers, matching circuits, anoscillator, an LO generator, a PLL, etc. A PA 254 pa receives andamplifies the modulated RF signal and provides a transmit RF signalhaving the proper output power level. The transmit RF signal is routedthrough antenna interface circuit 224 and transmitted via antenna 210.Each remaining transmitter 250 in transceivers 220 and 222 may operatein similar manner as transmitter 250 pa.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary design of receiver 230 and transmitter 250. Areceiver and a transmitter may also include other circuits not shown inFIG. 2, such as filters, matching circuits, etc. All or a portion oftransceivers 220 and 222 may be implemented on one or more analogintegrated circuits (ICs), RF ICs (RFICs), mixed-signal ICs, etc. Forexample, LNAs 240 and receive circuits 242 may be implemented on onemodule, which may be an RFIC, etc. The circuits in transceivers 220 and222 may also be implemented in other manners.

Data processor/controller 280 may perform various functions for wirelessdevice 110. For example, data processor 280 may perform processing fordata being received via receivers 230 and data being transmitted viatransmitters 250. Controller 280 may control the operation of thevarious circuits within transceivers 220 and 222. A memory 282 may storeprogram codes and data for data processor/controller 280. Dataprocessor/controller 280 may be implemented on one or more applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs) and/or other ICs.

Wireless device 110 may support multiple band groups, multiple radiotechnologies, and/or multiple antennas. Wireless device 110 may includea number of LNAs to support reception via the multiple band groups,multiple radio technologies, and/or multiple antennas.

FIGS. 1 and 2 therefore illustrate that a wireless device may includemultiple receivers in accordance with one or more exemplary embodimentsof the present disclosure. For example, as described further withreference to FIGS. 3-5, the wireless device 110 of FIGS. 1-2 may utilizemultiple receivers to increase data throughput. For example, thewireless device 110 may utilize an auxiliary receiver to increase datathroughput of a primary receiver.

Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplary embodiment of a system 300 is shown.

Components of the system 300 may correspond to components of thewireless device 110 of FIGS. 1 and 2. For example, the system 300 mayinclude antennas 310, 350, which may correspond to the antennas 210,212. As another example, the system 300 may include antenna interfacecircuits 308, 348, which may correspond to the antenna interfacecircuits 224, 226. The system 300 may further include receivers 302,342, which may correspond to any of the receivers 230 of FIGS. 1 and 2.The system 300 may further include a host 340, which may correspond tothe data processor/controller 280.

The antenna interface circuit 308 may include circuitry coupling theantenna 310 to the receiver 302, and the antenna interface circuit 348may include circuitry coupling the antenna 350 to the receiver 342. Forexample, the antenna interface circuit 308 may include one or moreantenna switches 307 (e.g., a frequency multiplexer or a diplexer) andfilters 304, 306. As another example, the antenna interface circuit 348may include one or more antenna switches 347 (e.g., a frequencymultiplexer or a diplexer) and filters 344, 346. The one or more antennaswitches 307 may selectively couple the filters 304, 306 to the antenna310, and the one or more antenna switches 347 may selectively couple thefilters 344, 346 to the antenna 350.

The receivers 302, 342 may receive information from one or morecommunication networks. In the example of FIG. 3, the receiver 302 mayreceive information from a wireless network 390, and the receiver 342may receive information from a wireless network 392. One or both of thewireless networks 390, 392 may be included in the wireless communicationsystem 120 of FIG. 1. In an exemplary, non-limiting implementation, oneof the wireless networks 390, 392 corresponds to a wide area network(WAN), such as a cellular network, and the other of the wirelessnetworks 390, 392 corresponds to a local data network, such as awireless local area network (WLAN). In an exemplary, non-limitingembodiment, the receiver 302 is configured to receive signals usingchannels having frequencies within a first frequency range, and thereceiver 342 is configured to receive signals using channels havingfrequencies within a second frequency range. The first frequency rangemay correspond to a 2.3 to 2.7 gigahertz (GHz) frequency range, and thesecond frequency range may correspond to a 2.4 to 2.5 GHz frequencyrange, as illustrative examples. The wireless networks 390, 392 maycomply with one or more communication standards. For example, one of thewireless networks 390, 392 may comply with a Long Term Evolution (LTE)communication standard, and the other of the wireless networks 390, 392may comply with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE) communication standard (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 communicationstandard), as illustrative examples.

In the example of FIG. 3, the receiver 302 includes a low noiseamplifier (LNA) 312 and an LNA 314. The receiver 302 further includesswitching and selection logic 316 that is coupled to outputs of the LNAs312, 314. The switching and selection logic 316 may be coupled toreceive circuitry 320 and to a connection 375. The connection 375 maycorrespond to a “shared” path that enables “sharing” of resources (e.g.,sharing of one or more outputs of the LNAs 312, 314 with the receiver342). The switching and selection logic 316 may include one or moreswitches and/or a multiplexer (MUX) configured to select between outputsof the LNAs 312, 314. The receiver 302 may further include a modem 322and post-processing circuitry 324. FIG. 3 depicts that the receivecircuitry 320 includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 332, afilter 334, a mixer 336, and a frequency synthesizer 338.

The receiver 342 may include LNAs 352, 354. The receiver 342 may becoupled to the receiver 302 and to the LNAs 312, 314, such as via theswitching and selection logic 316 and via the connection 375. Theconnection 375 is coupled to outputs of the LNAs 352, 354 via theswitching and selection logic 316. The outputs of the LNAs 352, 354 maybe coupled to receive circuitry 360. The receive circuitry 360 may becoupled to a modem 362 and to pre-processing circuitry 364. The receiver342 may be coupled to the receiver 302. For example, the receiver 342may be coupled to the receiver 302 via the connection 375. As anotherexample, the receivers 302, 342 may be coupled via a connection 377.

The host 340 may be coupled to the receivers 302, 342, such as via themodems 322, 362. The host 340 may include a general purpose processor,an application specific processor, or a combination thereof. In anexemplary embodiment, the host 340 is configured to determine an idlereceive time associated with the receiver 342. For example, the host 340may determine whether the receive circuitry 360 is processing signalsreceived via the antenna 350, such as based on whether the modem 362 iscommunicating with the host 340, whether the receiver 342 is associatedwith a network, etc. Alternatively or in addition, the receiver 342 maybe configured to provide one or more indications to the host 340 and/orto the receiver 302 indicating that the receiver 342 is idle. Thereceiver 342 may perform network measurements for the receiver 302 whilethe receiver 342 is idle to increase data throughput of the receiver302.

The filters 304, 306, 344, and 346 may be configured to filter certainsignals. The filters 304, 306, 344, and 346 may correspond to band-passfilters that pass certain frequencies and “block” or suppress otherfrequencies. To illustrate, the example of FIG. 3 indicates that thefilter 304 enables signals within a first frequency band (A1) (e.g., afirst channel) to be provided to the LNA 312, and the filter 306 enablessignals within an Nth frequency band (AN) (e.g., a second channel) to beprovided to the LNA 314, where “N” is a positive integer. FIG. 3 furtherindicates that the filter 344 enables signals within a third frequencyband (B1) (e.g., a third channel) to be provided to the LNA 352, and thefilter 346 enables signals within an Mth frequency band (BM) (e.g., afourth channel) to be provided to the LNA 354, where “M” is a positiveinteger that may be equal to or different than “N.”

The LNAs 312, 314 may amplify the signals and may provide the amplifiedsignals to the switching and selection logic 316. During a period whenthe receiver 342 is idle, the switching and selection logic 316 mayprovide amplified signals within the first frequency band (A1) and/oramplified signals within the Nth frequency band (AN) to the receivecircuitry 360. For example, an amplified signal may be provided to thereceiver 342 for network measurements while the amplified signal isprovided to other stages of the receiver 302 (e.g., to the receivecircuitry 320 and the modem 322) for data processing. In this example,the receiver 342 may perform network measurements on amplified signalswithin a first frequency band while the receiver 302 concurrentlyperforms data processing on amplified signals within the same frequencyband. To further illustrate, the receiver 342 may perform networkmeasurements on amplified signals within the first frequency band (A1)while the receiver 302 concurrently performs data processing onamplified signals within the first frequency band (A1), or the receiver342 may perform network measurements on amplified signals within the Nthfrequency band (AN) while the receiver 302 concurrently performs dataprocessing on amplified signals within the Nth frequency band (AN). Inone or more other exemplary implementations, an amplified signal may beprovided to the receiver 342 for network measurements while a differentamplified signal is provided to other stages of the receiver 302 (e.g.,the receive circuitry 320 and the modem 322) for data processing. Inthis example, the receiver 342 may perform network measurements onamplified signals within a frequency band while the receiver 302concurrently performs data processing on amplified signals within adifferent frequency band. To further illustrate, the receiver 342 mayperform network measurements on amplified signals within the firstfrequency band (A1) while the receiver 302 concurrently performs dataprocessing on amplified signals within the Nth frequency band (AN) (orvice versa).

The receivers 302, 342 may be implemented using multiple integratedcircuits or using a common integrated circuit. For example, the receiver302 may be implemented using a first integrated circuit, and thereceiver 342 may be implemented using a second integrated circuit. Inthis implementation, the connections 375, 377 may correspond tointegrated circuit interfaces. To illustrate, the connections 375, 377may include one or more input terminals, one or more output terminals,one or more output drivers, one or more input receivers, otherinput/output (I/O) logic, a serial interface, a parallel interface, ahigh speed interface, impedance matching circuitry, a clock domaininterface, another structure, or a combination thereof. Alternatively,the receivers 302, 342 may be implemented within a common integratedcircuit. In such an implementation, the connections 375, 377 maycorrespond to one or more nodes (e.g., a wire) of the common integratedcircuit, as an illustrative example.

In operation, one of the receivers 302, 342 may correspond to a primaryreceiver that receives network measurements from an auxiliary receiver,such as the other of the receivers 302, 342, to enable an increased datathroughput at the primary receiver. To illustrate, the receiver 302 maybe configured to perform certain network measurements to maintainconnectivity in a communication network. For example, the receiver 302may search for communication channels and/or network devices with whichto communicate in the communication network. Typically, performing suchnetwork measurements may involve adjusting a frequency of the receiver302, such as by adjusting a frequency of the frequency synthesizer 338of the receive circuitry 320. Performing such network measurements bythe receiver 302 typically interrupts data processing operations of thereceiver 302 by temporarily ceasing data reception operations at thereceiver 302 in order to perform the network measurements by thereceiver 302, reducing data throughput of the receiver 302.

In the example of FIG. 3, the receiver 342 may perform networkmeasurements for the receiver 302. For example, during an idle receivetime associated with the receiver 342, the receiver 302 may route asignal received via the antenna 310 to the receiver 342. For example,the receiver 302 may route a first signal generated by one of the LNAs312, 314 to the receiver 342 via the connection 375. To route the firstsignal to the receiver 342, the receiver 302 may selectively activateand/or deactivate the switching and selection logic 316.

The switching and selection logic 316 may selectively couple an outputof one of the LNAs 312, 314 to the connection 375 to route the firstsignal to the receiver 342 and to initiate measurements of the firstsignal at the receiver 342. The switching and selection logic 316 mayroute the first signal to the receiver 342 in response to a signal fromthe host 340 indicating that the receiver 342 is idle. Alternatively orin addition, the receiver 342 may provide an indication to the receiver302 (e.g., via an interface between the receivers 302, 342) that thereceiver 342 is idle. In this example, the receiver 342 may provide theindication to the switching and selection logic 316 (e.g., as an enableinput to the switching and selection logic 316) to cause the switchingand selection logic 316 to route the first signal to the receiver 302.The switching and selection logic 316 may include a splitter device that“duplicates” the first signal by providing the first signal to thereceive circuitry 320 and further to the receiver 342 via the connection375.

Upon receiving the first signal from the receiver 302, the receiver 342may perform one or more network measurement operations to generate asecond signal based on the first signal. The second signal may indicatenetwork measurements usable by the receiver 302. The networkmeasurements may indicate that a communication channel is available foruse by the receiver 302, that a network device is within communicationrange of the receiver 302, or a combination thereof. To perform the oneor more network measurement operations, the receiver 342 may tune thereceive circuitry 360 to a frequency or frequency band. The frequency orfrequency band may be specified by the host 340 or the receiver 302 viaone or more signals (e.g., one or more signals sent by the receiver 302via the connection 375). The frequency may correspond to a channel ofthe wireless network 390, and the network measurements may correspond to“samples” of a signal received via the channel.

The network measurements may indicate availability of a networkresource, such as availability of the channel and/or availability of anetwork device (e.g., a base station) of the wireless network 390, asillustrative examples. In an exemplary embodiment, the networkmeasurements indicate a signal strength, such as a signal-to-noise ratio(SNR), associated with a signal received via the channel and/or from thenetwork device. The signal strength may indicate availability of thechannel and/or the network device (such as if the signal strengthsatisfies a threshold). In an exemplary embodiment, the wireless network390 corresponds to a WAN, and the network measurements correspond to a“cell search” for cells of the WAN. In one or more other embodiments,the wireless network 390 corresponds to a WLAN, and the networkmeasurements correspond to a “channel scan” for channels of the WLAN. Togenerate the network measurements, the receive circuitry 360 may beresponsive to a control signal from the receiver 302 or the host 340 toselect one or more operating frequencies corresponding to channels ofthe WLAN. For example, a frequency synthesizer of the receive circuitry360 may be responsive to a control signal to select the one or moreoperating frequencies, as described further with reference to FIG. 4.

Upon generating the second signal, the receive circuitry 360 may providethe second signal to the pre-processing circuitry 364. In an exemplaryimplementation, the pre-processing circuitry 364 performs one or moredata processing operations based on the second signal to generate athird signal that may be provided to the receiver 302 via the connection377. As an example, the pre-processing circuitry 364 may adjust (or“convert”) a sampling rate of the second signal from a first samplingrate associated with the receiver 342 to a second sampling rateassociated with the receiver 302. The first sample rate may correspondto a data rate associated with the wireless network 392, and the secondsample rate may correspond to a data rate associated with the wirelessnetwork 390. Alternatively, the pre-processing circuitry 364 may beomitted from the receiver 342, and the receive circuitry 360 may bedirectly coupled to the connection 377, such as if the wireless networks390, 392 utilize a common data rate.

Upon generating the third signal, the pre-processing circuitry 364 mayprovide the third signal to the post-processing circuitry 324 via theconnection 377. The post-processing circuitry 324 may be configured toperform one or more data processing operations using the third signal.The post-processing circuitry 324 may generate a fourth signal based onthe third signal and may provide the fourth signal to the modem 322. Themodem 322 may analyze the fourth signal and the network measurementsindicated by the fourth signal. For example, the modem 322 may beconfigured to analyze the network measurements to determine whether thereceiver 302 should be tuned to another frequency and/or should initiatecommunication with a network device, such as in connection with achannel reselection operation by the receiver 302 and/or a “handoff”operation between network devices, such as a handoff operation betweenthe base stations 130, 132 of FIG. 1. As an example, the modem 322 mayanalyze a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the network measurements todetermine whether to perform the channel reselection operation, toperform a handoff operation, and/or whether to associate with a networkdevice. Alternatively or in addition, the host 340 and/or the modem 362may analyze the network measurements to conserve processing resources ofthe modem 322.

In an exemplary embodiment, the receiver 342 performs networkmeasurements concurrently with a data reception operation by thereceiver 302. To illustrate, the receiver 302 may receive data using afirst channel of the wireless network 390 while the receiver 342operates according to an idle receive mode, such as while the receiver342 is temporarily idle with respect to a second channel of the wirelessnetwork 392. In this example, the receiver 302 may receive a signal viathe first communication channel and may process the received signalusing one of the LNAs 312, 314 to generate the first signal.

Examples of network measurement operations include cell searches,channel searches, frequency scans, and frequency band scans, such asinter-band and intra-band frequency band scans, as illustrativeexamples. To further illustrate, in accordance with an exemplaryintra-band frequency scan, the receiver 302 may receive a signalassociated with a frequency band using a single filter and a single LNA,such as via the filter 304 and the LNA 312. The receive circuitry 320may process a portion of the received signal (e.g., a frequencyassociated with an active channel used by the receiver 302), and thereceive circuitry 360 may perform network measurements using one or moreother components of the received signal (e.g., one or more otherfrequencies within the frequency band). Performing the networkmeasurements at the receive circuitry 360 may increase data throughputat the receiver 302.

An inter-band frequency scan may concurrently utilize multiple filtersand LNAs. For example, in accordance with an exemplary inter-bandfrequency scan, the receiver 302 may receive a signal via the antenna310. The filter 304 may filter the received signal to generate a firstsignal associated with a first frequency band (e.g., an active channel),and one or more other filters (e.g., the filter 306) may filter thereceived signal to generate one or more other signals associated withone or more other frequency bands (e.g., signals corresponding toadditional frequency bands). The switching and selection logic 316 mayprovide the first signal to the receive circuitry 320. The switching andselection logic 316 may provide the one or more other signals to thereceiver 342 via the connection 375 for network measurements to beperformed by the receiver 342 to increase data throughput at thereceiver 302.

FIG. 3 illustrates that a device (e.g., the receiver 342) may include afirst low noise amplifier (LNA) in a first receive path and may furtherinclude receive circuitry in the first receive path. The receivecircuitry may correspond to the receive circuitry 360, and the first LNAmay correspond to any of the LNAs 352, 354. The first receive path mayinclude the antenna 350, the antenna interface circuit 348, the LNAs352, 354, and the receive circuitry 360. The receive circuitry may beconfigured to receive an output of the first LNA and to receive anoutput of a second LNA within a second receive path. The second LNA maycorrespond to any of the LNAs 312, 314. The second receive path mayinclude the antenna 310, the antenna interface circuit 308, the LNAs312, 314, and the receive circuitry 320.

The first receive path may be associated with (e.g., used by) thereceiver 342, and the second receive path may be associated with (e.g.,used by) the receiver 302. For example, FIG. 3 depicts that the receiver342 may include a portion of a first receive path (e.g., the LNAs 352,354) and that the receiver 302 may include a portion of a second receivepath (e.g., the LNAs 312, 314).

The example of FIG. 3 illustrates that data throughput of a primaryreceiver can be improved using network measurements generated by anauxiliary receiver. For example, by generating network measurements atthe receiver 342, the receiver 302 may continue data reception andprocessing using a first frequency without having to tune the receivecircuitry 320 to a second frequency associated with a secondcommunication channel and/or a second network device (e.g., withoutadjusting the mixer 336 to a second frequency to generate the networkmeasurements). Accordingly, data throughput of the receiver 302 isincreased by using the receiver 342 to perform network measurements.

Referring to FIG. 4, an exemplary embodiment of a system 400 is shown.The system 400 corresponds to a receiver, such as the receiver 342 ofFIG. 3. The system 400 may include the LNAs 352, 354, the pre-processingcircuitry 364, the modem 362, the receive circuitry 360, and theconnections 375, 377.

In the example of FIG. 4, the pre-processing circuitry 364 includes asampling rate adjuster 404 and a buffer 408. The buffer 408 may beconfigured to buffer signals generated by the receive circuitry 360,such as network measurements 412.

The receive circuitry 360 may include an analog-to-digital converter(ADC) 416, a filter 420, a frequency synthesizer 424, and a mixer 428.The receive circuitry 360 may be configured to generate the networkmeasurements 412.

In the example of FIG. 4, the system 400 may include one or moreswitches, such as bypass switches 432, 436. The bypass switches 432, 436may be selectively activated and deactivated by the system 400, such asbased on one or more control signals generated by the system 400 uponinitiation of an idle receive mode associated with the system 400. Toillustrate, while the system 400 is not processing one or more receivedsignals (e.g., using the LNA 352 or the LNA 354), the bypass switches432, 436 may be deactivated to bypass a portion of the system 400 toreduce spurious signals that may be generated by the LNAs 352, 354during the idle receive mode. In one or more other implementations, thebypass switches 432, 436 may be omitted from the system 400. Forexample, the LNAs 352, 354 may be directly coupled to the connection 375and to the receive circuitry 360. The bypass switches 432, 436 may beintegrated in a single (or “global”) switch.

In operation, the connection 375 may receive one or more signals from aprimary receiver, such as a signal 440. For example, during an idlereceive mode of the system 400 when the system 400 is not receivingwireless signals (e.g., via the antenna 350 of FIG. 3), the system 400may initiate an auxiliary mode of operation. During the auxiliary modeof operation, the receive circuitry 360 may receive the signal 440 fromthe receiver 302 of FIG. 3 via the connection 375. The signal 440 maycorrespond to an output (e.g., an amplified signal) generated by one ofthe LNAs 312, 314 provided by the switching and selection logic 316 ofFIG. 3. During the auxiliary mode of operation, the LNAs 352, 354 may bedecoupled from the receive circuitry 360 while the signal 440 isreceived via the connection 375. For example, the bypass switch 432 maydecouple the LNA 352 from the receive circuitry 360, and the bypassswitch 436 may decouple the LNA 354 from the receive circuitry 360.During the auxiliary mode of operation, the modem 362 may enter alow-power mode of operation to conserve power at the system 400.

In FIG. 4, the receive circuitry 360 is coupled to receive the signal440 and to generate a signal 444 based on the signal 440. The signal 444may indicate the network measurements 412. The signal 444 may correspondto a digital baseband signal including samples of a wireless channel. Toillustrate, the frequency synthesizer 424 may be tuned to generate asynthesized signal having a first frequency. The mixer 428 may beresponsive to the frequency synthesizer 424 to selectively filterfrequency components of the signal 440 to generate a down-convertedsignal. For example, the mixer 428 may “mix” the synthesized signal withthe signal 440 to generate the down-converted signal having a secondfrequency. The down-converted signal may be provided to the filter 420to generate a filtered signal. The ADC 416 may digitize the filteredsignal to generate the signal 444. In this example, the networkmeasurements 412 may indicate a signal strength of a signal having thesecond frequency, such as an availability of a communication channelthat uses the second frequency. Alternatively or in addition, thenetwork measurements 412 may include information indicating availabilityof a network device, such as an identification of a base station withincommunication range of the system 400. The identification of the basestation may be “broadcast” by the base station using a signal having thesecond frequency, which may be different than a frequency used by thereceiver 302 of FIG. 3 to perform data reception operations.

The receive circuitry 360 may be responsive to a control signal 450. Thecontrol signal may be generated by the host 340 or by the receiver 302.The control signal 450 may determine one or more operating parameters ofthe receive circuitry 360. For example, the control signal 450 mayspecify the frequency (or frequency band) of the frequency synthesizer424 and/or a receiver gain of the receive circuitry 360, as illustrativeexamples. To illustrate, the control signal 450 may include a multi-bitdigital signal with a first field having one or more bit valuesindicating the frequency of the frequency synthesizer 424 and a secondfield having one or more bit values indicating the receiver gain of thereceive circuitry 360. The receive circuitry 360 may generate the signal444 based on the control signal 450.

The pre-processing circuitry 364 may be responsive to the signal 444. Toillustrate, the buffer 408 may buffer the signal 444. The signal 444 maycorrespond to digitized samples generated by the ADC 416 and mayindicate the network measurements 412. In an exemplary implementation,the pre-processing circuitry 364 may adjust a sample rate of the networkmeasurements 412 via the sampling rate adjuster 404. To illustrate, thesampling rate adjuster 404 may increase a sample rate associated withthe network measurements 412, such as by up-sampling the networkmeasurements 412, or may decrease a sample rate associated with thenetwork measurements 412, such as by down-sampling the networkmeasurements 412.

The pre-processing circuitry 364 may generate a signal 448 based on thesignal 444. The signal 448 indicates (e.g., represents) the networkmeasurements 412. Alternatively, in one or more implementations, thereceive circuitry 360 may provide the signal 444 directly to thereceiver 302 of FIG. 3. In such an example, the pre-processing circuitry364 may be omitted from the system 400. For example, if pre-processingis not to be performed by the system 400, the signal 444 may be provideddirectly to the receiver 302 of FIG. 3 (where a sample rate used by thereceiver 302 is equal to a sample rate used by the system 400).

The system 400 may provide the network measurements 412 to the receiver302 via the connection 377. Depending on the implementation, the system400 may “push” the network measurements 412 to the receiver 302, or thereceiver 302 may request (e.g., “pull”) the network measurements 412from the system 400. The receiver 302 may utilize the networkmeasurements 412 indicated by the signal 448 to maintain networkconnectivity within a wireless network, such as by using the networkmeasurements 412 to determine whether to initiate communication usinganother communication channel and/or another network device.

By generating the network measurements 412, the system 400 may “assist”the receiver 302. The system 400 may generate the network measurements412 during an idle receive time during which the system 400 is notreceiving wireless signals. For example, the system 400 may generate thenetwork measurements 412 during a time period when the system 400 wouldotherwise be idle or in a “standby” mode of operation. Accordingly, datathroughput may be enhanced at a device that includes the system 400without incurring a performance penalty (e.g., without temporarilyceasing a data reception operation at the device to generate the networkmeasurements 412).

Referring to FIG. 5, an exemplary embodiment of a method 500 is shown.The method 500 may be performed by a device, such as by a receiver ofthe wireless device 110 of FIGS. 1 and 2. In an exemplaryimplementation, the method 500 is performed by the receiver 342 of FIG.3. Alternatively or in addition, the method 500 may be performed by thesystem 400 of FIG. 4.

The method 500 includes receiving a first output of a first low noiseamplifier (LNA) in a first receive path, at 510. The first output of thefirst LNA is received by receive circuitry within the first receivepath. The receive circuitry may correspond to the receive circuitry 360,and the first LNA may correspond to any of the LNAs 352, 354. The firstreceive path may include the antenna 350, the antenna interface circuit348, the LNAs 352, 354, and the receive circuitry 360.

The method 500 may further include receiving a second output of a secondLNA that is within a second receive path, at 520. The second output ofthe second LNA is received by the receive circuitry. The second LNA maycorrespond to any of the LNAs 312, 314. The second receive path mayinclude the antenna 310, the antenna interface circuit 308, the LNAs312, 314, and the receive circuitry 320.

The first receive path may be associated with (e.g., used by) a firstreceiver, and the second receive path may be associated with (e.g., usedby) a second receiver. For example, the first receive path may beassociated with the receiver 342, and the second receive path may beassociated with the receiver 302. In this case, the receiver 342 mayinclude the first receive path (or a portion of the first receive path),and the receiver 302 may include the second receive path (or a portionof the second receive path).

The receive circuitry may receive the output of the first LNA at a firsttime, and the receive circuitry may receive the output of the second LNAa second time. To illustrate, the first time may correspond to a firstmode of operation of the receiver 342, and the second time maycorrespond to a second mode of operation of the receiver 342. Thereceiver 342 may be active with respect to the wireless network 392(e.g., actively receiving data via the wireless network 392) during thefirst mode, and the receiver 342 may be idle with respect to thewireless network 392 during the second mode (e.g., not receiving datavia the wireless network 392). As a particular example, the receiver 342may be idle with respect to the wireless network 392 while the receiver302 receives a signal via the wireless network 390 and while one of theLNAs 312, 314 generates an output based on the signal received via thewireless network 390.

The method 500 may increase data throughput at a wireless device, suchas the wireless device 110. For example, by concurrently receiving datausing the receiver 302 and performing network measurements using thereceiver 342, the system 300 increases data throughput as compared totemporarily ceasing data reception to perform network measurements.Accordingly, data throughput is increased.

In conjunction with the described embodiments, an apparatus includesmeans for interfacing with a first receiver that includes a low noiseamplifier and for receiving a first signal from the low noise amplifier.The means for interfacing with the first receiver may correspond to theconnection 375. The first signal may correspond to the signal 440. Thelow noise amplifier may correspond to any of the LNAs 312, 314, and thefirst receiver may correspond to the receiver 302. The apparatus furtherincludes means within a second receiver for generating a second signalbased on the first signal. The second signal may correspond to a networkmeasurement usable by the receiver. The means for generating the secondsignal may correspond to the receive circuitry 360, the second signalmay correspond to the signal 444, and the second receiver may correspondto the receiver 342.

Although certain illustrative examples have been provided, it should beappreciated that additional embodiments or alternative implementationsare consistent with the present disclosure. For example, although thereceivers 302, 342 have been respectively described as primary andauxiliary receivers, it should be appreciated that the receiver 302 mayoperate as an auxiliary receiver that performs one or more operations(e.g., network measurements) for a primary receiver, which maycorrespond to the receiver 342. In such embodiments, one or morecomponents and/or operations illustrated with reference to the receiver342 may be implemented with respect to the receiver 302, and vice versa.As an illustrative example, switching and selection logic correspondingto the switching and selection logic 316 may be implemented within thereceiver 342, and pre-processing circuitry corresponding to thepre-processing circuitry 364 may be implemented with the receiver 302.

In accordance with an exemplary “quasi-parallel” network measurementtechnique, the receivers 302, 342 may perform network measurements inparallel, such as during idle receive times associated with thereceivers 302, 342. In an exemplary design, the receiver 302 correspondsto a WAN receiver, and the receiver 342 corresponds to a WLAN receiverconfigured to process signals having a large bandwidth. In this example,the receiver 342 may perform network measurements in parallel with thereceiver 302. In certain cases, a WLAN receiver may support a highbandwidth, which may enable the WLAN receiver to perform measurementsfor a large bandwidth rapidly (e.g., in a “single shot”), improvingdevice performance.

Certain data reception operations herein have been described in terms ofa single receive “chain.” For example, certain data reception operationshave been described with reference to single carrier, single datastream, and single antenna systems. It should be appreciated that areceiver may include multiple receive chains, such as multiple carriers,multiple data streams, and/or multiple antennas. In an exemplaryembodiment, a receiver may include multiple receive chains and multiplefrequency synthesizers. The multiple frequency synthesizers may includea dedicated frequency synthesizer that the receiver uses during anactive receive mode (e.g., during a data reception operation of thereceiver) to generate network measurements concurrently with a datareception operation by the receiver. The network measurements may beperformed using an idle receive chain of the multiple receive chainswhile another receive chain of the multiple receive chains performs adata reception operation. Alternatively or in addition, in a carrieraggregation system, if a receive chain allocated to an aggregatedcarrier is idle during a data reception operation, the receive chain maybe used to perform network measurements.

A receiver may be configured to bypass native filtering in order tofacilitate performing network measurements for another receiver. Forexample, the receiver 342 may include switching and selection logiccoupled between the antenna 350 and the LNAs 352, 354. The switching andselection logic may be controllable (e.g., by the receiver 302) to causethe receiver 342 to “bypass” the filters 344, 346 to cause the receiver342 to receive signals in a target frequency or frequency band. Such animplementation may be useful in applications that do not include a largenumber of “blocker” signals. For example, by bypassing the filters 344,346, the receiver 342 may be more susceptible to blockers, such asblockers caused by operation of a transmitter of the system 300. FIG. 6illustrates an example of a receiver configured to bypass nativefiltering.

Referring to FIG. 6, an exemplary embodiment of a system 600 is shown.The system 600 may include a receiver 602, a receiver 642, and anantenna interface circuit 648. The receiver 602 may be coupled to thehost 340 and to the antenna interface circuit 308. The receiver 602 mayinclude the LNAs 312, 314, the receive circuitry 320, the modem 322, andthe post-processing circuitry 324. The receiver 642 may be coupled tothe host 340 and to the antenna interface circuit 648. The receiver 642may include the LNAs 352, 354, the receive circuitry 360, the modem 362,and the pre-processing circuitry 364.

The antenna interface circuit 648 may include a bypass path 604 (e.g., aswitch), the one or more antenna switches 347, and the filters 344, 346.The antenna interface circuit 648 may be coupled to the antenna 350 andmay be responsive to signals sent via the wireless network 392. Theantenna interface circuit 308 may include the one or more antennaswitches 307 and the filters 304, 306. The antenna interface circuit 308may be coupled to the antenna 310 and may be responsive to signals sentvia the wireless network 390.

In operation, the receiver 642 may use the bypass path 604 to bypass thefilters 344, 346 to perform one or more network measurements for thereceiver 602. For example, when the receiver 642 is idle with respect tothe wireless network 392 (e.g., when signals are not being received bythe receiver 642 via the wireless network 392), the receiver 642 maybypass the filters 344, 346. The receiver 642 may generate networkmeasurements for the receiver 602 and may provide the networkmeasurements to the receiver 602 via the connection 377. In one or moreother implementations, the receiver 602 may request or initiate networkmeasurements to be taken by the receiver 642.

To illustrate, if the modem 322 detects that a signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) of a signal received via a channel associated with the filter 304fails to satisfy a threshold, the modem 322 may send a message to thehost 340 indicating that the SNR fails to satisfy the threshold. Inresponse to the message, the host 340 may determine whether the receiver342 is idle with respect to the wireless network 392 (e.g., based oncommunications with the modem 362). If the receiver 342 is idle withrespect to the wireless network 392, the host 340 may request thereceiver 642 to bypass native filtering operations associated with thefilters 344, 346 by activating the bypass path 604. Alternatively, thehost 340 may activate the bypass path 604. In one or more otherimplementations, the receiver 602 may activate the bypass path 604.Further, the one or more antenna switches 347 may decouple the filters344, 346 from the antenna 350.

After activating the bypass path 604, a received signal may be providedfrom the antenna 350 to the LNA 352. The received signal may correspondto an “unfiltered” signal having a high bandwidth. The LNA 352 maygenerate an amplified signal based on the received signal, and thereceive circuitry 360 may process the amplified signal.

For example, the receive circuitry 360 may include a mixer (e.g., themixer 428 of FIG. 4). The receive circuitry 360 may be responsive to acontrol signal (e.g., the control signal 450) from the host 340 or fromthe receiver 602 indicating a frequency band (e.g., for a handoffoperation to another channel, such as a channel corresponding to thefilter 306). The mixer may selectively filter frequency components ofthe amplified signal to generate a down-converted signal within thefrequency band. The receive circuitry 360 may filter the down-convertedsignal (e.g., at the filter 420) to generate a filtered signal. Thereceive circuitry 360 may digitize the filtered signal (e.g., at the ADC416) to generate digital samples.

The digital samples may correspond to network measurements that areprovided to the receiver 602 (e.g., via the connection 377) to enablethe receiver 602 to maintain network connectivity within the wirelessnetwork 390. For example, the modem 322 may analyze the networkmeasurements to determine whether a handoff operation is to be performed(e.g., from a channel associated with the filter 304 to a channelassociated with the filter 306). To further illustrate, the modem 322may analyze the network measurements to determine that a signal strengthof a signal associated with a channel corresponding to the filter 306 isgreater than (e.g., by a threshold difference) a signal strength of asignal associated with a channel corresponding to the filter 304.

The example of FIG. 6 illustrates bypassing of the filters 344, 346 toenable the receiver 642 to perform network measurements for the receiver602. Such an implementation may be advantageous in applications that donot include a large number of “blocker” signals. Bypassing the filters344, 346, a received signal may have a large bandwidth that issusceptible to blockers, such as blockers caused by operation of atransmitter of the system 600 within a certain frequency band. Thesystem 600 may therefore be useful in a device in which a large numberof blocker signals are not present or expected (e.g., within a devicehaving relatively isolated transmitter and receiver portions).

In another implementation, filters of a receiver of a device are“duplicated” at another receiver of the device. To illustrate, one ormore filters corresponding to the filters 304, 306 of the receiver 302may be implemented within the receiver 342. In this example, thereceiver 342 may selectively route signals received via the antenna 350to the one or more filters to perform network measurements for thereceiver 302. The one or more filters may be configured to suppress orreduce “blocking” signals. In some applications, the one or more filtersmay be expensive and/or large and thus may be associated with higherdevice cost and/or circuit area than other implementations. An exampleof a receiver with “duplicated” filters is described with reference toFIG. 7.

Referring to FIG. 7, an exemplary illustrative embodiment of a system700 is shown. The system 700 may include a receiver 702, a receiver 742,and an antenna interface circuit 748. The receiver 702 may be coupled tothe host 340 and to the antenna interface circuit 308. The receiver 702may include the LNAs 312, 314, the receive circuitry 320, the modem 322,and the post-processing circuitry 324. The receiver 742 may be coupledto the host 340 and to the antenna interface circuit 748. The receiver742 may include the LNAs 352, 354, the receive circuitry 360, the modem362, and the pre-processing circuitry 364.

In the example of FIG. 7, the antenna interface circuit 748 includes afilter 704, a filter 706, switching and selection logic 712, the one ormore antenna switches 347, and the filters 344, 346. The antennainterface circuit 748 may be coupled to the antenna 350 and may beresponsive to signals sent via the wireless network 392. The antennainterface circuit 308 may include the one or more antenna switches 307and the filters 304, 306. The antenna interface circuit 308 may becoupled to the antenna 310 and may be responsive to signals sent via thewireless network 390.

The filters 704, 706 may “duplicate” the filters 304, 306. For example,as described with reference to FIG. 3, the filter 304 may be associatedthe first frequency band (A1) (e.g., a first channel), and the filter306 may be associated with the Nth frequency band (AN) (e.g., a secondchannel), where “N” is a positive integer. In the example of FIG. 7, thefilter 704 may be associated with the first frequency band (A1), and thefilter 706 may be associated with the Nth frequency band (AN).

In operation, the receiver 742 may be idle with respect to the wirelessnetwork 392, such as when the receiver 742 is not receiving signals viathe wireless network 392. In response to the receiver 742 being idle,the one or more antenna switches 347 may decouple the filters 344, 346from the antenna 350. For example, the one or more antenna switches 347may be responsive to the modem 362, and the modem 362 may assert one ormore control signals to cause the one or more antenna switches 347 todecouple the filters 344, 346 from the antenna 350.

The switching and selection logic 712 may selectively couple one of thefilters 704, 706 to the LNA 352. For example, the switching andselection logic 712 may be responsive to a control signal from thereceiver 702 indicating which of the filters 704, 706 is to be coupledto the LNA 352.

In an exemplary embodiment, the receiver 742 performs one or morenetwork measurements based on signals within the Nth frequency band (AN)using the filter 706 while the receiver 702 receives signals within thefirst frequency band (A1) using the filter 304. To illustrate, thereceiver 702 may receive signals via a channel associated with thefilter 304. The receiver 742 may send a control signal to the switchingand selection logic 712 causing the switching and selection logic 712 toselect the filter 706, and the one or more antenna switches 347 may bedeactivated (e.g., in response to initiation of the idle mode ofoperation of the receiver 742) to decouple the filters 344, 346 from theantenna 350. By selecting the filter 706 and decoupling the filters 344,346 from the antenna 350, the switching and selection logic 712 mayprovide a signal within the Nth frequency band (AN) to the LNA 352.

The LNA 352 may be responsive to the signal to generate an amplifiedsignal. The receive circuitry 360 may be responsive to the amplifiedsignal to generate network measurements, and the network measurementsmay be provided to the receiver 702 (e.g., via the connection 377). Thereceiver 702 may utilize the network measurements to maintain networkconnectivity within the wireless network 390. For example, the modem 322may analyze the network measurements to determine whether to initiate ahandoff operation from a channel corresponding to the filter 304 to achannel corresponding to the filter 306.

The example of FIG. 7 illustrates that filters can be “duplicated” at anauxiliary receiver to enable network measurements by the auxiliaryreceiver for a primary receiver. Such an implementation may reduce costsand device complexity associated with the primary receiver (e.g., byavoiding or reducing switching and selection logic in a receive paththat includes the antenna 310, the antenna interface circuit 308, andthe receiver 702). Regarding the example of FIG. 7, an “insertion loss”(e.g., signal distortion, frequency selectivity, and/or otherdegradation) may be associated with the switching and selection logic712. Accordingly, use of the system 700 may be advantageous in anapplication in which high signal strength is expected at the receiver742 and in which a certain amount of insertion loss is tolerable (e.g.,does not cause signal strength to be less than an operating parameterassociated with the receiver 742).

In another implementation, an input of an LNA stage of a receiver iscoupled to an input of an LNA stage of another receiver. To illustrate,the receiver 302 may include switching and selection logic coupledbetween the filters 304, 306 and the LNAs 312, 314. The switching andselection logic may be configured to selectively route received signalsto inputs of the LNAs 352, 354 of the receiver 342. In this example, asingle antenna (e.g., the antenna 310) can be used to receive signalsthat are used to generate data and network measurements, which mayimprove accuracy of the network measurements as compared to usingmultiple antennas to receive data and perform network measurements. Thenetwork measurements may include inter-band and intra-band frequencyband scans. Implementing switching and selection logic at the input ofan LNA stage may add front-end insertion loss to a primary receiver,which may be preferable to adding front-end insertion loss to anauxiliary receiver in certain cases. An example of a primary receiverthat includes front-end switching and selection logic is described withreference to FIG. 8.

Referring to FIG. 8, an exemplary illustrative embodiment of a system800 is shown. The system 800 may include a receiver 802, a receiver 842,switching and selection logic 804, an antenna interface circuit 808, anda switch 812. The receiver 802 may be coupled to the host 340 and to theantenna interface circuit 808 via the switching and selection logic 804.The receiver 802 may include the LNAs 312, 314, the receive circuitry320, the modem 322, and the post-processing circuitry 324. The receiver842 may be coupled to the host 340 and to the antenna interface circuit348. The receiver 842 may include the LNAs 352, 354, the receivecircuitry 360, the modem 362, and the pre-processing circuitry 364.

The antenna interface circuit 348 may include the one or more antennaswitches 347 and the filters 344, 346. The antenna interface circuit 348may be coupled to the antenna 350 and may be responsive to signals sentvia the wireless network 392. The antenna interface circuit 808 mayinclude switching and selection logic 804, the one or more antennaswitches 307, and the filters 304, 306. The antenna interface circuit808 may be coupled to the antenna 310 and may be responsive to signalssent via the wireless network 390. The switching and selection logic 804may be coupled to the switch 812, and the switch 812 may be coupled tothe antenna interface circuit 348 and to the receiver 842.

In operation, the receiver 802 may initiate a network measurementoperation. To illustrate, the receiver 802 may receive a signal via thewireless network 390 using a channel corresponding to the filter 304. Ifa signal strength of the signal (e.g., a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ofthe signal) fails to satisfy a threshold, the receiver 802 may initiatethe network measurement operation to determine whether to initiate ahandoff operation from the channel corresponding to the filter 304 to achannel corresponding to the filter 306. In this example, the networkmeasurement operation may correspond to an “inter-band” frequency scanthat scans for a channel (e.g., a channel within the Nth frequency band(AN) associated with the filter 306) that is different from a channelcurrently being used to perform a data reception operation (e.g., achannel within the first frequency band (A1) associated with the filter304).

To initiate the network measurement operation in connection with aninter-band frequency scan, the receiver 802 may cause the switching andselection logic 804 to output a signal from the filter 306 to the switch812. For example, the switching and selection logic 804 may beresponsive to a control signal from the modem 322. The switching andselection logic 804 may output the signal from the filter 306 while alsoproviding a signal from the filter 304 to the LNA 312 (e.g., during adata reception operation that receives data via a channel associatedwith the filter 304) to initiate the inter-band frequency scan.

A network measurement operation may be initiated to perform an“intra-band” frequency scan. To illustrate, network measurements may beperformed to determine availability of one or more channels within thefirst frequency band (A1) associated with the filter 304 while thereceiver 802 is performing a data reception operation using one or moresignals received via the filter 304. In this example, the switching andselection logic 804 may output a signal from the filter 304 to the LNA312 and further to the switch 812. While the receiver 802 processes thesignal (e.g., to receive data sent via the wireless network 390), thereceiver 842 may perform one or more network measurements using thesignal, such as to scan for channels within the first frequency band(A1) while the receiver is idle with respect to the wireless network392.

If the receiver 842 is idle with respect to the wireless network 392(e.g., is not performing a data reception operation using the antenna350), the receiver 842 may activate the switch 812. For example, themodem 362 may send a control signal to the switch 812 activating theswitch 812. Alternatively, in one or more other implementations, thehost 340 may determine that the receiver 842 is idle, and the host 340may activate the switch 812 via a control signal. Further, the receiver842 may send a control signal to the one or more antenna switches 347 tocause the one or more antenna switches 347 to decouple the filters 344,346 from the antenna 350 (e.g., to prevent or reduce leakage of signalsfrom the antenna 350 to the receiver 842 during the idle mode).

The LNA 352 may be responsive to the signal provided by the switch 812.The receive circuitry 360 may be responsive to the LNA 352 to generatenetwork measurements, and the network measurements may be provided tothe receiver 802 (e.g., via the connection 377). The receiver 802 mayutilize the network measurements to maintain network connectivity withinthe wireless network 390. For example, the modem 322 may analyze thenetwork measurements to determine whether to initiate a handoffoperation (e.g., between channels of a common frequency band, or betweenchannels of different frequency bands). To further illustrate, the modem322 may analyze the network measurements to determine that a signalstrength of a signal associated with a first channel of the wirelessnetwork 390 is greater than (e.g., by a threshold difference) a signalstrength of a signal associated with a second channel of the wirelessnetwork 390.

The example of FIG. 8 illustrates that data throughput at the receiver802 may be enhanced by providing a signal from the antenna interfacecircuit 808 to the receiver 842. For example, the receiver 842 mayperform network measurements while the receiver 802 performs a datareception operation. Accordingly, the receiver 802 may avoid a latencyassociated with temporarily interrupting the data reception operation togenerate the network measurements, improving data throughput at thereceiver 802. Further, the example of FIG. 8 does not add “extra”filters to either of the antenna interface circuits 348, 808 (e.g., doesnot “duplicate” filters), which reduces device cost and complexity of awireless device that includes the system 800.

In connection with the described embodiments, an apparatus includesmeans for bypassing one or more filters associated with a first networkthat is accessed by a first receiver. The one or more filters maycorrespond to one or more of the filters 344, 346, and the first networkmay correspond to the wireless network 392 (e.g., the first network mayinclude the wireless network 392). The apparatus further includes meansfor generating, responsive to the means for bypassing, a second signalassociated with a second network that is accessed by a second receiver.The means for generating the second signal is within the first receiver.The means for generating the second signal may correspond to the receivecircuitry 360, the second signal may correspond to the signal 444, andthe second network may correspond to the wireless network 390 (e.g., thesecond network may include the wireless network 390). As explainedfurther below, the first receiver may correspond to any of the receivers342, 642, 742, and 842, and the second receiver may correspond to any ofthe receivers 302, 602, 702, and 802.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first receiver corresponds to thereceiver 342, and the second receiver corresponds to the receiver 302.In this example, the means for bypassing the one or more filters mayinclude a switch, such as any of the bypass switches 432, 436.

In another exemplary embodiment, the first receiver corresponds to thereceiver 642, and the second receiver corresponds to the receiver 602.In this example, the means for bypassing the one or more filters mayinclude a bypass path (e.g., the bypass path 604) of an antennainterface circuit (e.g., the antenna interface circuit 648) thatincludes the one or more filters.

In another exemplary embodiment, the first receiver corresponds to thereceiver 742, and the second receiver corresponds to the receiver 702.In this example, the means for bypassing the one or more filters mayinclude switching and selection logic (e.g., the switching and selectionlogic 712) coupled to a second filter (e.g., any of the filters 704,706) associated with a frequency band, such as the first frequency band(A1) or the Nth frequency band (AN). The frequency band is associatedwith the second network (e.g., the frequency band may correspond to achannel of the wireless network 390).

In another exemplary embodiment, the first receiver corresponds to thereceiver 842, and the second receiver corresponds to the receiver 802.In this example, the means for bypassing the one or more filters mayinclude a switch, such as the switch 812. The switch may be coupled toreceive a signal from an antenna interface circuit associated with thesecond receiver, such as from the antenna interface circuit 808. One ofskill in the art will appreciate that such examples are illustrative andthat other implementations and examples are also consistent with thepresent disclosure.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, configurations, modules, circuits, and algorithm stepsdescribed in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may beimplemented as electronic hardware, computer software executed by aprocessor, or combinations of both. To illustrate, the dataprocessor/controller 260 and/or the host 340 may execute instructions tocommunicate with one or both of the receivers 302, 342. Variousillustrative components, blocks, configurations, modules, circuits, andsteps have been described above generally in terms of theirfunctionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware orprocessor executable instructions depends upon the particularapplication and design constraints imposed on the overall system.Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varyingways for each particular application, but such implementation decisionsshould not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with theembodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in asoftware module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two.To illustrate, the data processor/controller 260 and/or the host 340 mayexecute instructions to communicate with one or both of the receivers302, 342. As another example, the receiver 342 may include hardwareand/or a software module executable by a processor to perform one ormore operations of the method 500. A software module may reside inrandom access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM),programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory(EEPROM), registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a compact discread-only memory (CD-ROM), or any other form of non-transient storagemedium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to theprocessor such that the processor can read information from, and writeinformation to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storagemedium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storagemedium may reside in an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).The ASIC may reside in a computing device or a user terminal. In thealternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discretecomponents in a computing device or user terminal.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided toenable a person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosedembodiments. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art, and the principles defined hereinmay be applied to other embodiments without departing from the scope ofthe disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to belimited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widestscope possible consistent with the principles and novel features asdefined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless device, comprising: an antennainterface circuit configured to receive a first signal from a firstwireless network via an antenna, the antenna interface circuitincluding: a filter coupled between the antenna and a terminal; and abypass path coupled between the antenna and the terminal, the bypasspath configured to provide a path that bypasses the filter; and a firstreceiver coupled to the antenna interface circuit via the terminal, thefirst receiver including receive circuitry, the receive circuitryresponsive to the bypass path and configured to generate a second signalassociated with a second wireless network that is accessible by a secondreceiver.
 2. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the first receiverincludes a low noise amplifier, wherein the bypass path includes aswitch, and wherein the switch is coupled to the terminal and to the lownoise amplifier of the first receiver.
 3. The wireless device of claim1, wherein the first receiver is coupled to the first wireless networkvia the antenna interface circuit and the antenna, wherein the secondreceiver is coupled to the second wireless network via a second antennainterface circuit and a second antenna, and further comprisingpre-processing circuitry at the first receiver, the pre-processingcircuitry configured to receive the second signal from the receivecircuitry and to output a third signal to the second receiver.
 4. Thewireless device of claim 1, wherein the filter is associated with afrequency band, wherein the bypass path includes switching and selectionlogic coupled to the filter and to the terminal, and wherein thefrequency band is associated with the second wireless network.
 5. Thewireless device of claim 1, wherein the second receiver is coupled tothe second wireless network via a second antenna interface circuit, andwherein the bypass path includes a switch coupled between the secondantenna interface circuit and the first receiver.
 6. An apparatuscomprising: a bypass path at an antenna interface circuit, the antennainterface circuit coupled between a first network and a first receiver,the bypass path configured to provide a path that bypasses one or morefilters of the antenna interface circuit, the one or more filtersconfigured to filter a first signal communicated between the firstnetwork and the first receiver; and receive circuitry at the firstreceiver, the receive circuitry responsive to a configuration of thebypass path and configured to generate a second signal associated with asecond network accessible by a second receiver.
 7. The apparatus ofclaim 6, wherein the bypass path comprises a switch coupled between thefirst network and a low noise amplifier of the first receiver.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 6, wherein the first receiver is coupled to the firstnetwork via the antenna interface circuit and a first antenna, andwherein the second receiver is coupled to the second network via asecond antenna interface circuit and a second antenna.
 9. The apparatusof claim 6, wherein the one or more filters of the antenna interfacecircuit includes a first filter associated with a frequency band,wherein the bypass path includes switching and selection logic coupledbetween the first filter and the first receiver, and wherein thefrequency band is associated with the second network.
 10. The apparatusof claim 6, wherein the second receiver is coupled to the second networkvia a second antenna interface circuit, and wherein the bypass pathincludes a switch coupled to the second antenna interface circuit and tothe first receiver.
 11. A method comprising: bypassing one or morefilters of an antenna interface circuit, the antenna interface circuitcoupled between a first network and a first receiver, the one or morefilters configured to filter a first signal communicated between thefirst network and the first receiver; and responsive to the bypassing,generating a second signal within the first receiver, the second signalassociated with a second network that is accessed by a second receiver.12. The method of claim 11, wherein bypassing the one or more filtersincludes activating a switch that is coupled to a low noise amplifier ofthe first receiver.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein bypassing theone or more filters includes activating a bypass path of the antennainterface circuit.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein bypassing the oneor more filters includes activating switching and selection logic thatis coupled to a filter associated with a frequency band, the frequencyband associated with the second network.
 15. The method of claim 11,wherein bypassing the one or more filters includes coupling a bypasspath to receive a signal from a second antenna interface circuitassociated with the second receiver.
 16. An apparatus comprising: meansfor bypassing one or more filters at an antenna interface circuit, theone or more filters configured to filter a first signal communicatedbetween a first network and a first receiver; and means, responsive tothe means for bypassing, for generating a second signal associated witha second network that is accessible by a second receiver, the means forgenerating within the first receiver.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16,wherein the first receiver includes a low noise amplifier, wherein themeans for bypassing the one or more filters comprises a switch, andwherein the switch is coupled to the antenna interface circuit and tothe low noise amplifier of the first receiver.
 18. The apparatus ofclaim 16, wherein the means for bypassing the one or more filtersincludes a bypass path at the antenna interface circuit.
 19. Theapparatus of claim 16, wherein the means for bypassing the one or morefilters includes switching and selection logic that is coupled to afirst filter of the one or more filters, the first filter associatedwith a frequency band, and wherein the frequency band is associated withthe second network.
 20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the means forbypassing the one or more filters includes a switch coupled to receive asignal from a second antenna interface circuit associated with thesecond receiver.